When I attended my daughter's kindergarden Back-to-School Night two years ago, I was delighted to see a video of the classroom playing on a television in the corner. As a parent, it was exciting to see my child in the context of the classroom.
SchoolCircle is a free service that is designed to help elementary school teachers organize communication to the parents of their students. SchoolCircle offers many of the features of Google+ Communities without the need for parents to join Google+. Through SchoolCircle you can create an online community for parents of students in your classroom.
Back-to-school content is usually focused on teachers and students, and as these two groups will have the largest workload ahead of them, that makes sense. But for students, the ultimate support system is not an expert teacher, but an informed and supportive family.
In too many classrooms in America, parents are often viewed as the adversaries of teachers. While this isn't true for every school district, even one is too many. The parent-teacher relationship is just one of the many factors that complicate our educational system, and it's a prime example.
Elena Aguilar Transformational Leadership Coach from Oakland, California When I first started teaching and was overwhelmed by the demands and complexity of the job, my survival strategy was simply to take all the advice that came my way and implement it.
For many educators, conferences are coming up soon, and it can be a stressful time of the school year. To help parents and educators prepare for parent-teacher conferences, we've rounded up a variety of web resources. From ideas for highlighting student progress, to questions every parent should ask, these are some of our favorite articles and resources that cover parent-teacher conferencing.
Elena Aguilar Transformational Leadership Coach from Oakland, California Last week I spent an afternoon coaching teachers on preparing for parent conferences. That same day, after work, I attended my son's fall parent-teacher conference. Given these different perspectives on this tradition, I figured I could share some thoughts for making these conferences meaningful and rewarding for all.
Just as you've finally settled into a rhythm in your class, it is now time for parent/teacher conferences. This event can cause dread for some teachers. There's always this fear that the parents are going to ask something about their child that the teacher will not know the answer to.
April Smith shares how she uses the free Google Drive service to communicate with parents and engage them in their child's education. She describes 5 simple ways to communicate with them digitally and eliminate unnecessary paper. Strategies include collecting contact data, sharing presentations, sending home newsletters, creating digital behavior logs, and having parents sign up for parent-teacher conferences.
In too many classrooms in America, parents are often viewed as the adversaries of teachers. While this isn't true for every school district, even one is too many. The parent-teacher relationship is just one of the many factors that complicate our educational system, and it's a prime example.
